18 Facts About Morton Smith

Morton Smith was an American professor of ancient history at Columbia University.

Morton Smith is best known for his reported discovery of the Mar Saba letter, a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria containing excerpts from a Secret Gospel of Mark, during a visit to the monastery at Mar Saba in 1958.

Morton Smith received his bachelor's degrees from Harvard College and the Harvard Divinity School, a Ph.

Morton Smith taught at Brown University and Drew University and then he became a teacher at Columbia University in 1957.

Morton Smith became professor emeritus in 1985 and continued as a lecturer in religion until 1990.

Morton Smith was well-known for his sharp wit when it came to religious debates.

Morton Smith made regular scholarly contributions in many fields, including but not limited to Greek and Latin classics, New Testament, Patristics, Second Temple Judaism, and Rabbinic Judaism.

Morton Smith devoted fifteen years of his life to just studying his finding of the Secret Gospel.

Years later, in 1958, having landed a teaching career at Columbia, Morton Smith was awarded a sabbatical.

Morton Smith recalled that during his first visit, the library had been a terrible mess, and according to Smith no one had bothered to catalog it.

Morton Smith reported he found the manuscript in the Mar Saba monastery in 1958, photographed it carefully, and then left the book where he found it.

Morton Smith first publicized the discovery in 1960 but, due to various delays, his main publications on the subject did not come out until 1973.

In 1975, Quentin Quesnell published a lengthy article in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, where he even suggested that Morton Smith had forged the document himself, and then photographed his alleged forgery.

An incensed Morton Smith issued a furious rebuttal, whereupon Quesnell disclaimed any personal accusations against Morton Smith.

Morton Smith responded by threatening to sue the publisher, Fortress Press of Philadelphia, "for a million dollars" and the publisher amended the offending paragraph.

Morton Smith was admired and feared for his extraordinary ability to look at familiar texts in unfamiliar ways, to re-open old questions, to pose new questions, and to demolish received truths.

Morton Smith practiced the "hermeneutics of suspicion" to devastating effect.

Morton Smith's answers are not always convincing but his questions cannot be ignored.